WOD: Teams of 4
            4 Rounds
            75: P2OH, V-ups, HRPU

Have you seen this picture circulating on Facebook?

I can't tell you how much this is pissing me off. I don't know why. I guess I don't have anything more pressing to worry about than the meal that you are going to prepare for your family tonight. This post makes me want to vomit.

Because I was so annoyed by the ingredients, I entered it in to an app to figure out the exact breakdown:
834 calories per serving
49 grams of fat
1 gram of fiber

Here's an idea, stick to a chicken breast and a serving of green beans. Heck, even throw in a dinner roll for good measure if you like the bread!

(okay, I'm done)

WOD: 21-15-9
            Box Jumps/ Push Press

Strength: EMOTM
                Hang Clean, Hang Squat Clean

Run: incline 6/ 2 miles

I know I say this every time I get up early, but working out at 5:30am gives me so much more energy in the morning. The best part is that I actually get to work on time! My plan is to continue doing this when Nick isn't at work until 6am and then all summer.

We are headed east to my mom's house for the weekend. My favorite part about visiting her is going to Crossfit Cohesion. It is, by far, my favorite gym. It's so simple. It's old school Crossfit not the new amped up gyms with every gadget and gizmo. And the people there are so friendly. I walk in and everyone treats me like I have been going there for years. I love it.

I would give you an update on my food habits but at the current moment that doesn't exist. Yesterday was a great day. If I can get through about 10 clean days I'm usually good to go. Recently, I have found some motivation to keep moving. Hopefully it doesn't wear off!

tis the season

WOD: 12 Days of Christmas
Run: 1 mile walk on incline

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. We started with an early morning WOD with a group of friends:

Now that the holiday binge eating is over, it's back at it for major changes in 2014. This is not a New Year's Resolution, this is just part of the every day challenges of trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

I need a goal....something that isn't Put-In-Bay in August. That's too far away. I need something in May/June.

WOD: Partner Dianne
           21-15-9 Deadlift/ HSPU
           While partner 1 is doing deadlift, partner 2 does handstand hold.
           While partner 1 is doing HSPU, partner 2 hold deadlift weight.
            Switch.

Skill: Max box jump (Pr'd by 1/2 inch)

So, the best part of moving to our new house is that I am sitting here drinking my wine, fiddling around on the computer and I can't see or hear anyone else in this house. The boys have a friend spending the night and Nick is in the bedroom watching tv. This is heaven.

 

I'm planning on waking up early in the morning to get a WOD in before all the chaos begins. My goal is to hold off on all sugar until as late as possible. Once I start eating junk, I can't quit.

 

I have a pale Christmas dinner planned for tomorrow evening. It should be exciting. I don't have a recipe for my oven roasted sweet potato/squash idea. I'm going to just try something and hope it goes well. One thing I know for sure, I'm NOT using the apple slicer!

 

Merry Christmas to all of my friends. May the Lord bless you and be with you throughout the holiday season and may you take the time to remember this special holiday with the the ones you love the most!

 

 

(The M&Ms are for the kids....I can look at those all day and not eat them.)

 



WOD: Christmas Party teams of 8

WOD am: Teams of 2
                  50 DBRows
                  100 SitUps
                  150 Push Ups
                  200 Box Jumps

Run: 1 mile

I had a lot of fun at the Christmas party last night. I had to cut out early to get home so I probably missed all the fun stuff. I'm an extreme extrovert so it was hard for me to leave knowing that so many people would still be there but I had to get home.

Today it has been raining almost non stop. Our sump pump got stuck so I'm limited to the house for the day to  make sure the basement doesn't flood.

Three wonderful people made my day today: my friend Mandi let us borrow the UHaul truck to pick up a piano. My friend Michael helped Nick move the piano (in the rain and after a comp team WOD this am). Stephanie for giving us the piano so Josalyn can continue to take her lessons.

and then something amazing happened...... I had to pay the bills. I hate doing this. I dread doing it. I wait until I'm alone and I wait until the very last minute. As I'm going through the bill basket to determine what is junk and what needs paid, I come across a check. I opened up the mail, threw away the envelope and never opened the paper. There was a check that was issued on December 1 for over $1,000!!! JACKPOT! I'll pay more attention next time.

Blessed is a word that is overused so often on facebook. People are blessed to be blessed. But today was truly a testament of how lucky we are to have such wonderful friends to share our lives with.

It's just a great day (and a sore day). Did I mention that I can't move?!

WOD: 21-15-9
            Deadlift/Pull Ups

Strength: 1 RM Deadlift

Run: 1 mile

I have this need for control. I know, you are shocked right now, aren't you? About 5 years ago, I was complaining to my mom that Connor just bounced all over the furniture from one spot to the next. He would remind you of a baby cheetah pouncing in the wild. My mom calmly replied, "Oh well, they are only small for a short amount of time, who cares."

From that conversation, my attitude has changed. My old attitude (that still rears it's ugly head) was to yell at the boys and tell them to quit jumping around. We have nice things because we work and take care of them. Jumping on the furniture would only ruin it. For me, it was a matter of respect. My new attitude smiles as I watch them get out some of their energy. Growing up, my mom had my old attitude. It changed over time (and as a grandparent). But it made me realize, I don't want my kids to remember me constantly nagging.

Disclaimer: I know there is a time and place for the furniture jumping. I don't think it's acceptable in our formal living room with the china cabinet nor while we are visit with guests at a house that is not our own.

I am slowly (and I mean slowly) realizing the couch is just a couch. It's really not hurting anything. In a few years, no one will want to bounce off my furniture. No one will set up relay races in the tv room with finish line ribbons attached to cabinet doors or want to practice wrestling moves with his mom or do cartwheels until too dizzy. And what we will have??? Nice furniture? or wonderful memories. 

Life is making the time we have together memorable, special, and worth living for because the next day will be just as good (if not better)!

xoxo

Early morning: light 2 miles

WOD: 30 FSQ
           30 T2B
           20 Power Cleans
           20 T2B
          10 Squat Cleans
          10 T2B

Run: 3 miles

(Today just happens to be one of those days that I have more free time. I typically don't do this much activity. But I also don't typically eat the junk that I have found myself consuming for the last week, either.)

Can you think of a person, in your life, that has a negative attitude? The negative attitude often carries into all aspects of his/her life. And that person also seems to be the loudest or the first heard. AND, the voice that stays with you. The voice you hear in your head over and over again.

Then, there is that positive, encouraging voice that is in the other corner. The voice that warms your heart and makes you smile.  The voice that as soon as you hear, you quickly dismiss with an excuse.

These two voices are the same volume. You choose to hear one over the other. You choose to let the negative person drag you down. You choose to ignore the encouragement. I once was told that you have to give 7 compliments for 1 criticism.  But you get the point.

We have control over this. We allow ourselves to give up the power of our emotions and let others control the way we feel. We all deserve to be happy and to learn to listen for the "quiet" voices and dis empower to the loud voice.

back at it

WOD: Cindy
Run: 3 miles (sprint/walk)

I shaved :44 off my last Cindy time. It was the longest 4 minutes of my life, but I already know I can beat that time. I'm excited to go at it again.

Fun facts that you might not know about me:
1. I'm the middle child.
2. I went on a weekend getaway with Nick when we had been dating 2 months (19 &20 years old) and we almost eloped.
3. My favorite food is asparagus.
4. When training for a race, I only run in even miles. I also don't stop until I have hit the exact number. I will never run past that number and I don't round.
5. In the past 9 1/2 years, I have only hated my job 1 day.
6. I have major OCD tendencies but really suppress a lot of that so others will enjoy being around me.
7. We gave Connor his name because of the Scott/Lacy Peterson trial that was going on when I was pregnant.
8. Parker's middle name is a family name given to him from my step-grandmother's side of the family.
9. My favorite WOD has wall balls.
10. I hate wearing blue jeans.
11. For fun, on my 30th birthday, my sister and I ran 17 miles. It it my favorite birthday memory.
12. The favorite thing about my life is being a mommy!

WOD: rest, rest, rest

Again, I have no excuse. I must be going into hibernation mode as the winter temperatures are dropping and the snow is falling! I can work out at home. I have a treadmill and I have the CF equipment. BUT, I'm tired. I'm tired because I'm not working out. I'm not working out because I'm running around like a mad woman, blah blah blah.

I will be at the gym tonight. I will do the posted workout and I will run at least 3 miles.

I went to Connor's first wrestling tournament yesterday. I was not prepared for that organized chaos. I will know next time to pack a cooler for all of us. It made me sick. There were at least 200 young, growing kids there and the concession stand had JUNK food. Pizza, nachos, shredding chicken (barf), candy bars, chips and soda. Besides being overpriced, the food was horrible. All these kids doing a physical activity that need healthy carbs and fats to keep their energy going all day and what do they offer? Cow tails and sour patch kids. And by fault, it was the lady standing there taking my order that I blamed. Of course, all her fault.

Rest Day.

I can't believe that I didn't work out last night. It was my intention to go to the gym this morning at 5am so I went to bed early and when I text Nick to tell him goodnight, he informed me that he would be leaving the house at 5:45am. That cancelled my plans! Ugmpf.

Tonight is my annual Cookie Exchange with my Reasons to Run friends. I'm looking forward to exchanging cookies and receiving lots of different varieties in return! YUMMY! It makes the holiday season more bearable because I always have a fresh variety of cookies but only have to bake once!

I won't be able to get to the gym this weekend so I hope to get some miles in outside. It's such a beautiful time of year. I love the snow and running past houses and seeing the lights and Christmas trees.

winter wonderland

WOD: Row 500 for time
            EMOTM 10 min
            Powerclean + Hang Squat Clean
            EMOTM 10min (heavy weight)
            Power Clean


Run: 3 miles easy (outside)

Today is our office Christmas party. I feel like I have strong enough will power to walk away from the sweets. Do you ever find that when overweight people pile on massive amounts of crap food on their plate, you are no longer hungry? Yeah, that's me. But, that's another day.

I was trying to figure out ways to curb the garbage disposal inclination that I typically resort to during this time of year. The cookies and snacks are always laying around the office or the kitchen waiting for the first innocent victim. I am going to try a new approach. Instead of trying to tell myself I will only eat one, I bought some Luna bars. I have never bought them before. I don't even know if I will like them. My plan is to cut them up in fudge-like chunks and put them out on a tray. That way I can still experience the getting up and down, shoving food in my mouth and feeling like I can enjoy a sweet treat!

nothing will ever be good enough

WOD: 3 partner team/ 14 min AMRAP
            2 wall balls 20#
            1 rope climb
            4, 6, 8, 10, 12.....

Run: 1 mile sprint

It's Monday evening and I have found myself sitting in front of the computer. Mostly, because I don't want to watch Little Mermaid for the millionth time.

I debated going to the gym tonight. I could have stayed home and ran on the treadmill but I tricked myself into thinking that being around others would make the miles go by quicker. As soon as I entered, I saw the workout and the rest is history. I was on that mat and doing the group stretch in about 90 seconds. Addicted. I did manage to get in a quick mile at the end.

The last couple of weeks I have been doing some self reflecting. I am really hard on myself. I don't know if it's OCD or Type A personality or my ESTJ Myers-Briggs type...whatever the reason, I am never satisfied. Something can always be done better and more efficiently. This isn't just at the gym. This attitude pours into every aspect of my life. At work as soon as a project has been completed, I'm already trying to figure out how long I can wait before the next version. At home, my house is never clean enough, the yard is never manicured enough, the shrubs need trimmed every day, the windows have streaks, and so on. And then there's the gym. Oof.

I have often wished that I could just be satisfied and happy with the current status of things. I clean my house every weekend. I dig out weeds with my bare hands. I pour my mind into my job. I stress school, performance, attendance, effort to my kids. I go to the gym 5 days a week. I run at least 4 days a week. Can't I reflect back on a week and just be happy? Can't I take a day and just rest? Can I sit back and say, "I'm doing a good job."  I wish it were that easy. But, it's not.

Is that okay? Absolutely. When things start to become "okay" or "just good enough" they slip. Goals become reevaluated, diets begin to fail, housework slips, jobs become status quo and the gym is no longer the routine. Striving for continuous improvement is motivation. The drive to always want to be better gives the sense of satisfaction. It's okay to never be satisfied. It's okay to want more.

{Side note: I do expect a lot from my children. But, I do take the time to enjoy their accomplishments and praise them for a job well done. I embrace the time I have with them when they are so small. I am satisfied every day by the things they teach me and the way I see them interact with others.}

Katie and I sporting our competition t-shirts in front of the gym Christmas tree after our WOD!
BOOM-SAUCE!

that's a wrap!

WOD: Winter Rendezvous

This competition was a little more fun than the last one I did. I didn't really get nervous or start to freak out until the morning of the competition.

Nick and I arrived in Bloomington, IN on Friday night. We drove through an ice storm at about 35 mph for 5 hours. We registered for the event and had a great dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Yummy prime rib and a sweet potato.

We checked into the hotel only to find out that there was no cable, no internet, and no hot tub. Everything broke from the ice. We both took medicine and went to bed! So much for a romantic evening!

Saturday was so much fun. I packed enough food to feed both of us for at least 3 days. I had water, clothes and snacks so nobody would be hungry.

Dianne and I ended up placing 13th overall (out of 30 teams) when our goal was to not get last. Dianne had a clean PR and I PRd my bear complex and my 2 rep clean! We laughed and had so much fun.

My plan for this week is to hit the treadmill! Taking it easy from CF and putting some miles on my feet!

Infinity Fitness + Dianne!

4 days....

Rest Day.

It's Wednesday, 8:51am, and I have checked the Internet at least 5 times already this morning to see if the 2013 Winter Rendezvous workouts have been posted.

I am officially in freak out mode. I was in bed last night and I got up, grabbed the PVC pipe and started working on my snatch balance and pistols. It's kinda like cramming for a test the day before. It doesn't really work!

On my way to work this morning that feeling set in. All those thoughts that try to talk me out of it were racing through my mind. My stomach sunk. My hands got cold and clammy. Great. I have to deal with this for 4 more days.

Everyone keeps saying that this is "just for fun" but the FUN doesn't really set in until it is over.  I'd rather just run.....

I'll post again after I see the movements and can discuss my plan of attack!

WOD: Elizabeth
 
Run: 4.5 miles before WOD

I am sure I'm messing up my WOD by running directly before, but this time I did it on purpose. I wanted to try to push through a WOD while extremely tired to see how far I could go before I lost all my fuel. I got to the 15 reps of dips and pooped out!

This is one of my favorite quotes:
"Don’t ever let somebody tell you, you can’t do something.
You got a dream, you gotta protect it.
People can't do something themselves
They wanna tell you that you can’t do it
You want something, go get it. Period." -Pursuit of Happiness

I say this over and over again in my head. It just hits home. So many times I have pushed myself to do things that are out of my comfort zone. From my first 5k, half marathon, full, tri and now these crazy Crossfit competitions. The minute I begin to get comfortable, I get bored. Constantly pushing myself to try new things keeps it interesting and challenging.

Rest Day

Run:  easy 3 miles

I barley have enough time to blog...I'm too busy shopping online today!

I have been logging my miles and counting my Crossfit gym sessions ever since I started. I track how many times I go to the gym mostly because of the cost. I tell myself if I can't get there enough, I don't need to be spending the money. It's always interesting to look back and see the patterns. I logged 49.5 miles last month and 25 CF WODs. My miles are beginning to pick back up. My goal for December is 65 miles.

Two dear friends mastered the ring muscle up (4 in a row to be exact) over the weekend. I'm not surprised, they both put in the effort and the time. It's a very well deserved accomplishment for both of them!

I have 6 days until my next competition and I started to think I'd better be working on HSPUs and pistols. Once again, cramming everything in at the last minute. This was supposed to be fun, remember? If I think about competing my armpits get all sweaty and my palms get clammy. AHHHH!

the downward sprial...

WOD: 10 rounds w/ partner
             5 cleans (95#)
            10 front squats
              5 jerks
             20 pull ups

Run: 3 COLD miles

Okay....We've all been there. Now, it's my turn. My plan was to go to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner and leave without leftovers. My plan didn't include going back to my mom's house and eating pizza (which I ignored the first day but ate a piece the second day) or buying fudge and eating it or drinking diet coke all weekend! What the heck?! And, it gets worse. I went to church tonight and snacked on M&Ms that were for gingerbread houses. EEEKKKK!

My sister invited me to join this group "going streaking" which is a group through Runner's World that is committed to running 1 mile a day from Thanksgiving through the new year. I've gone at least 3 miles every day.

I'm going to wake up tomorrow and start the day off right. I'm done with the crap. It could have been a lot worse but it wasn't as perfect as I would like it to be. I need to get a grip before it's too late!!!